Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we’ve spotted from the previous week. Check back weekly for our top picks.

Reducing Prison Populations in the States

In August, Gov. Markell signed SB 226, which institutionalizes the use of evidence-based practices, including use of risk assessment instruments, in decisions concerning bail, rehabilitation and probation supervision. The bill also requires the state to evaluate its pretrial practices and treatment programs. Read Vera’s summary of the bill.

Massachusetts: In July, Gov. Patrick signed Ch. 192, which denies parole to some people convicted of a third felony, but also grants parole eligibility for hundreds of prisoners convicted of drug offenses. Additionally, the bill reduces mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses and reduces the “school zone” from 1,000 to 300 feet for drug offenses, which could reduce such enhancements by as much as 75 percent. Gov. Patrick’s signature came after legislative leaders promised they would try to reduce strict sentencing rules for certain drug crimes when the new legislative session begins in January. The ACLU fought hard to expand the good pieces of the bill and oppose the scope of the penalty for third offenses.

Voting for Criminal Justice Reform at the Ballot Box

This November, voters in several states will be asked to decide on criminal justice initiatives. They are:

Marijuana Decriminalization—that is, licensing and regulation of marijuana for personal use for adults aged 21 and up—will be put to voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. The ACLU recently released a report calculating that the state has spent $211 million over a decade to enforce its marijuana laws.

Medical marijuana is on the ballot in Arkansas and Massachusetts. Watch this moving video to understand why medical marijuana is important to Massachusetts citizens.

Death Penalty Repeal– Proposition 34, the “Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act,” would replace California’s death penalty with life without parole. The SAFE California Campaign is leading the initiative.

Three Strikes Reform,which would revise California’s three strikes law to impose a life sentence only when a new felony conviction is serious or violent,is also on the ballot in California. You can read more about the initiative here.

Reducing the Federal Prison Population

In July, the Department of Justice asked the U.S. Sentencing Commission to help identify sentencing reforms that will safely reduce costs, and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer called for Congress to pass measures to reduce the federal prison population. Other federal highlights include:

The Senate Judiciary Committee Hosts Hearing: “Rising Prison Costs: Restricting Budgets and Crime Prevention Options”. Due to the dramatically rising federal prison population, federal prison costs are up 1700 percent since the 1980s—the President’s FY 2013 budget request for the BOP totals $6.9 billion. Taking note of the alarming trend, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in August to take a closer look at the rising costs of incarceration in the United States. Read the ACLU’s letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Department of Justice Will Stop Blocking Release of Legally Innocent Prisoners. After pressure from a USA Today cover storyand much public outcry, the U.S. Department of Justice will stop blocking the release of a number of federal prisoners who it concedes are “legally innocent” following an appeals court ruling last year. The Department also released guidelines to U.S. attorneys for how to handle the cases of these prisoners. Read the ACLU’s commentary and our letter to top DOJ officials urging immediate action to identify and possibly release dozens of wrongfully imprisoned federal inmates.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission asked for public comments about its 2013 priorities. At our blog, we note that the ACLU and the DOJ both called on the USSC to address the sentencing policies that have exploded the federal prison population. Read our comments and check out the public comments from other organizations.

The Huffington Post’s Shadow Conventions spotlighted special topics that would not receive the attention they deserve in campaign coverage. The ACLU contributed this piece on the election and the War on Drugs.

The ACLU will join coalition partners for a Congressional Briefing on Thursday, September 13, 2012, at 11:00 am (Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2456). The briefing on Operation Streamline and its relationship to private, for-profit detention of immigrants is sponsored by Rep. Jared Polis.

Indigent Defense Reform

After sustained litigation and advocacy by the ACLU and partners in recent years, including a detailed report on county systems, the Michigan Governor's Indigent Defense Advisory Commission provided its findings and recommendations for improving the current indigent defense system to the House Judiciary Committee. Last month, lawmakers introduced a bill to create Michigan’s first statewide, independent indigent defense system. The ACLU discusses the development in more depth here. On the American Constitution Society blog, Vanita Gupta, with co-author Stephen Hanlon from Holland & Knight, discusses recent indigent defense reform efforts and how they might serve as an incentive for promoting smart criminal justice reforms that would significantly decrease caseloads of overburdened public defenders.

Ensuring Humane Treatment of Prisoners

On September 17 in Montgomery, Alabama, trial begins in Henderson v. Thomas, the ACLU’s challenge to Alabama’s enforced segregation of, and discrimination against, prisoners with HIV. HIV-positive prisoners are segregated from other prisoners; required to wear white armbands to disclose their HIV status; and barred from a host of rehabilitative services and programs that are offered to similarly-situated prisoners who do not have HIV. The ACLU contends that these discriminatory policies and practices violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.Read the Birmingham News’s takeon the case.

Upcoming Criminal Justice Event: Law & Disorder: Criminal Justice on TV and in Real Life

On September 18 at 9 a.m., the ACLU, NACDL, and The Constitution Project will talk about how the criminal justice system doesn’t look like the version we see on TV. Learn more about the event and register here.